Assumption
Today's goal was, to smile at everyone I meet. I went in today with a big bag of arrogance. Smiling is the one thing I doo readily and happily. I mean, check my DP image.
So here I was this morning all ready to smile through this challenge
Reality
Alas the day did not go as I had assumed. Was working from home, and feeling a bit under the weather. So the opportunity to meet people were few and far between. I did smile and greet members of our household as we always do. As did I smile when interacting with the help staff. I also smiled when I met our parents Physio. So all good technically.
However I did cross path with a lady in our apartment complex, someone I had not met before. And when we crossing path I had planned to smile but was unable to do so. The reason was a fear of looking creepy. Let me explain.
Everything above was written on 13th, what follows is written on 15th
In India, with our population being the size it is, there is no dearth of elderly uncles who are creepy and downright dirty. Most women have to navigate their lives around such wastes of mankind. Now when I meet a lady I don't know I am very wary of acting familiar or smiling outright, in case it feels aggressive and creepy to her, especially with my fat structure and white scraggly hair and beard. I just continued walking on without any visual interaction with her. Back when I stayed in Bristol for a bit I would have smiled and probably said a Hello. Not here.
This made me a bit depressed, thinking of the culture I am in. Smiling is such a pleasant experience, one that I am always in most of the time. Smiles are useful for the people who receive it as well as the person who offers it. It is know scientifically that smiling pumps the happy chemicals into your brain. Yet the society has become so dangerous for half the population (i.e. women) that one has to ensure not to act creepy, because bad actors have used the 'good actions' to pursue their bad deeds 😔
I was really sad and could not finish the post even though I had started to write the first two paragraphs.
Nature
Then I spoke to my spouse the next day and she agreed that it might be awkward in India to just smile at the opposite sex when you don't know them. However she reminded me that I interacted with more people that day. I smiled when greeting her, my parents in law as well as the servants who visited our house at different times. That put me back on a high. Yes I cannot really change society overnight but my natural state is to either smile or go down deep dark places. Might as well stick to smiling 😁
Since then I have had to go into office and it has been all about smiling and meeting others and generally creating a positive atmosphere. So all is well.
Hope
My hope is that overall society becomes safe enough that smiles don't hide daggers and people can feel comfortable smiling at absolute strangers. I guess in urban cities a certain amount of cynicism is required at times, but still hope reigns supreme. Here's hoping for a smiling future to all .
Thanks again to 
For more knowledge on the Kindness channel check out Greg's posts:
Be kind and remain blessed!
Update: adding tag #ladiesofhive as advised in comments.
Sources:
- Image in post is a self image taken by me.